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It was pain beyond anything Harry had ever experienced; his very bones were on fire; his head was surely splitting along his scar; his eyes were rolling madly in his head; he wanted it to end... to black out... to die...
And then it was gone.

And another one

Originally Posted by GOF pg.573

The pain was so intense, so all-consuming, that he no longer knew where he was... white-hot knives were piercing every inch of his skin, his head was surely going to burst with pain; he was screaming more loudly than he'd ever screamed in his life --
And then it stopped.

So from both of these incounters we can gather that the victim feels fire and a burning sensation. I'm not sure if this was just Harry because of his scar, but his head almost exploded with intolerable pain. And both times it ended just as quickly as the pain came.

Don't forget the curse is also poweful enough to drive a person insane if it's used for a long period of time. This happened to Frank and Alice Longbottom.

I'm sure that there are different spells that could create pain, think Sectusempra, or even something along the lines of a Dementor which would cause emotional pain. However, there is no other curse that causes as much pain as the Cruciatus becuase it is, afterall, an Unforgiveable Curse. If something were to do something similar or torture someone further than the Cruciatus, I would wonder why it isn't an Unforgiveable.

Yes...but all that wasn't actually happening, was it? Maybe he was thinking that he felt the pain, but he wasn't actually being stabbed by knives and burned in fire. So it could've been an illusion or something of the sort?

Or is there something in the books that says the victim came out of the curse physically injured, perhaps?

I think the victim feels what seems to be physical pain, but is really in his/her head. In the battle of Hogwarts, though, McGonagall is described as having a gash on her cheek, so I would assume that there are spells (probably more than just Sectumsempra) that do cause actual physical pain.

I think the victim feels what seems to be physical pain, but is really in his/her head.

Or the curse could be screwing around with the nerves IN the brain, causing pain.

Obviously the curse doesn't actually light the person's body on fire (though I bet there's one that does or could be adapted to it), but it's much worse than that. It tells your brain that your body is on fire and there's nothing you can do about it.